No matter where you go, there you are.
Well I have made a decision, we are all either going to die, or be turned into mindless minions for all of time. I wish I could tell you of a valiant mission to save all of elvinkind, or of the skill we displayed in battle, I can’t. No, we stink at the fighting thing, only one member of the party has skill in hand to hand, and when she gets knocked silly, we are doomed.
All of my life I heard the stories of heroes who would save the day, no matter the cost to themselves. I often dreamed of being the one who would jump in at the last second to deny the forces of evil, to save the day. Now I fear we are serving the evil.
We found ourselves in a situation where we had to defeat three monks to get some keys, to open something, to destroy the Heart. I won’t go into the fighting any more than to say, WE NEED MORE FIGHTERS. Oh, I would give my left arm to have Glorn with us now. He was a fighter let me tell you, yup, a barbarian from the north that could do little but fight. But oh, could that man fight. Glorn took out three gnolls who ambushed us, and he wasn’t armed.
Anyway, we get the keys and use them, save the day time, no, screw up time. After the last key was turned the pain started. The center of the floor in the main room opened releasing some sort of creature that is beyond a true description. It was larger than a team of horses, yet not really there. To top that it lashed out at us with tendrils that destroyed by mere touch. We did manage to toss the Heart into it, but the cost was great. We were no match for the creature as it ate through the walls and escaped into the world. The creature wandered off while we stood in awe, not to mention we lost most of our armor and our health was near nonexistent.
At least we did have time to read the runes in the hole, that seemed to have been holding this creature back, at least until we opened it. Now to figure out which evil person we helped, and then figure out how to stop their plans, without helping the other evil person do more harm to the world.
Layout of the Temple of the Void, prior to our visit, courtesy of Drusilia Silverwood.
Layout of the Temple of the Void, after our visit, courtesy of Drusilia Silverwood.
After finding a silver key in the rubble, we looked in all the rooms one after another. What it came down to was a human monk and a construct in each saying they are the guardian of either the past, present or future. One per room. On asking one told us we were the guardians of choice and to choose wisely. We were also told in order to enter the void we needed to defeat them either one on one or as a group us vs. that particular monk and the golem. We went one on one each time and eventually defeated all three. All told we got a copper key from one, a platinum key from another and an electrum key from the third. Personally I think we were missing a key, but no one else seemed to mind. We placed the other keys in the other key hole in no particular order, and the center of the circular room opened up letting out this thing that made stuff vanish from existence upon touching it. That was when Valon said the Heart is his and he ran into one of the rooms. Most of us went after him and while Pockets and Ghelt held him still I got the Heart out and threw it at the thing. That’s when I lost consciousness. When I came around, the thing had gotten out into the world and both the Heart and the Rod of Undeath were gone from existence. I’m not sure if we did the right thing or not. But we did the best we could, hey, a pint glass can’t hold a quart now can it? If it’s holding a pint it’s doing the best it can, right?
We have completed our mission to destroy the Heart of Nerull! A great weight has been lifted off of our shoulders.
After arriving in the Temple of the Void, we found three guardians blocking our path. The guardians of “what was,” “what is,” and “what will be.” We had to face each of them in ‘single’ combat.... Well, not really single combat, just that only one of us could fight them at a time.... If it had truly been single combat, the guardians would have been healed after each one of us had made our attempt. Luckily for us, that was not the case, and we were able to defeat all three of them, and release “The Void.”
“The Void” as it turned out, was not a place, so much as a thing. In fact, it seems to be some kind of creature! No sooner had we released it, than it began to absorb everything it contacted. Thinking we would need to fight it, I braced myself and waited for the rest of the party to get in position. I yelled to Valon, “Throw the Heart in!”
Instead of throwing the Heart in, he cackled something along the lines of “No! It’s Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!” and ran off into one of the rooms! The rest of the party chased after him, leaving only me and Watch to face the Void!
After surviving an attack by the void, Watch and I decided to take cover for a moment, and the Void moved into the room with the rest of the party. Luckily, one of them managed to get the Heart of Nerull from Valon, and tossed it into the Void. The Heart was finally destroyed!
We continued to battle the Void for a few moments longer, but it then retreated through a wall, and out into the barren snowy wasteland that surrounded the room of “What is.”
So, as we sit here, with our mission accomplished, I am taking a few moment to relax, and was thinking of heading for home. Drusilia is moaning something about “Darkness in my wake” and “destruction of the world,” and the rest of the party seems to be in the same sort of mind-set.
Personally, I think they are all acting a bit prematurely. Questing to destroy an evil artifact, such as the “Heart of Nerull” is one thing, but going on a quest to recapture or destroy something that we know next to nothing about is a different matter entirely. Maybe the Void was meant to roam free. Maybe the evil act was holding it in captivity. Or maybe it should be destroyed. Maybe destroying it will destroy the world. The fact of the matter is, we just don’t have enough solid, trustworthy information, and until we get some, I am not going to go on a quest to destroy the thing. Basing our actions on information we got from people we don’t know or have any reason to trust is what got us in this position in the first place.
The rest of the party can do what they want, but my next action is going to be to do some research on what “The Void” really is, and what the appropriate thing to do about would be. This is one of those few times where I would say that a good structured plan is in order. (As much as it pains me to write those words!)
~=Fafnir Flamebrewer=~
Dearest Grun,
We’ve accomplished our mission - but now I fear that it wasn’t quite what we expected it to be. Drusilia’s a little worried about the fortune-teller’s words to her - they seem to be literally coming true, and not in a good way!
We left off in my last letter resting befone attempting the Temple of the Void once more. Rummaging about the room and statues, we found no clues, except for a key Aramil discovered in the remnants of a statue. I was standing in the middle of the room, looking for writings of any kind about me, when Fafnir took the key and tried a random keyhole with it. There was a sudden rumbling and grinding beneath my feet, and the key became stuck. The rumbling died away, and Fafnir began to try the doors.. which now opened!
The first door he tried looked like the great hall we’d appeared in, except for a jungle outside the windows, and two figures - a kneeling human in white robes, and a patched-together flesh golem standing behind! The human spoke to us (and the golem didn’t move, so we stuck around to listen), explaining that he was the guardian of “what was”, and we had to defeat him to continue. Fafnir closed the door. As we discussed this new development, “Pockets” opened the door behind us - which turned out to be a great hall, swampland outside the doors, and a human with a stone golem claiming to be the guardian of “what will be”. Finally, we checked the last door and found a human woman, snowy wasteland outside the windows, and a clay golem behind her - the guardian of the present.
Drusilia spoke at length with this person, asking how and why we were to fight them all (I admit at this point I suggested leaving the Heart inside one of the doors and being done with it. Only partly in jest, too!). “Pockets” discovered that he could mage hand things from one room to another - like snow to the jungle. He also threw a rope out of the window into the jungle. The upshot of the discussion was this: we could offer a champion in single combat with each human, or we could go in as a group and fight the human - and their golem! I thnk “Pockets” and Aramil have missed our battles with golems - they thought group combat would be better! Finally, I walked into the room of the past, and offered single combat.
It didn’t go especially well, Grun! I got some good hits in, but he ended up taking me down. The last thing I saw before I passed out was “Pockets” in the corner, raising his crossbow..
...and woke to Drusilia and me in the doorway, “Pockets” in the room fighting the monk, and the rest watching the fight. “Pockets” ended up leaping out the window, holding the rope, but of course the monk broke the rope and he was gone! Aramil immediately ran for the window and looked for his friend, which luckily the monk didn’t take as an attack. He even found him! Throwing the rope out, he pulled “Pockets” back in. I figured “Pockets” would leave it to the next person, but he insisted he wasn’t done yet and attacked again. Not for long! As he fell, Drusilia ran in and dragged him free of combat even as Aramil entered the fray! Aramil gave, and Fafnir strode into the room. He faced the monk and unleashed a spell that blew the monk right out the window, dead! “Pockets” retrieved a copper key and I arranged the body before the golem and prayed over his remains. Fafnir stuck the new key into a random lock, we heard more grinding, saw nothing, and headed for the next room.
I managed to defeat the keeper of the present alone. Barely! Thank Moradin the healing sword worked in the Temple of the Void or we’d have been in real trouble! Another key turn, more rumbling, and on to the future. The third challenge did not go as well. I went down again and woke to the sight of Aramil dancing upon the remains of the keeper. Go, Aramil! We laid out the remains for the last time, and went to turn the last key in its lock.
We stood by the walls and watched the floor slowly open. Inky blackness came up through the floor, and everything it touched it destroyed! I figured this was the way to destroy the Heart, and turned to Valon - who shocked us all by not only refusing to throw the Heart in, but running from the room! We followed (except for Fafnir and Watch), arguing, but it became obvious that the thing had taken over his mind. We had to fight him for it, even as the inky blackness destroyed the chamber behind us. Finally, we pinned him, and Aramil yanked out his bag of holding and began to rummage through it. At this point, Valon went insane, the void came through the doorway, and the golem decided it was a group battle. Dearest Grun, what a mess!
Aramil did find the Heart - but he was so weakened by the golem, he missed throwing it into the void. The golem smashed into me as I held onto Valon, and the void destroyed our armor (thank heavens that was all!). I could hear Watch barking, and see Fafnir’s spells hitting the void from behind, so we knew they were alive even as the void destroyed the golem. Drusilia ran through the mess, grabbed the Heart, and threw both it and the rod of undeath from our first adventure into the void.. they disappeared. She then attacked the void, but it flew out the window into the snowy wasteland, and was gone! This was rather anticlimactic, and we didn’t even know if the things had been destroyed! (the whole darkness thing is what has her worried, for that matter).
Valon seems to be himself again, and thinks the snows are in our plane of existence. Who knows where we’ll be when we come back to our world, though?
We’re resting for a bit, and then we’ll be after the void. It’s not what we expected, and so we’re going to try to learn more about it. I have no idea what we’ll do if we have to catch it, however!
Wish us luck.. again!
With love,
Ghelt
Godsday, Wealsun 4, 592 CY
We stayed in the Temple of the Void for the better part of a day, so we could rest, look at the runes in the Void’s empty “cell,” and so I could study the sky to figure out where (or when!) we were. The stars looked familiar from all the rooms— except the room we first arrived in with the desert landscape. The sun never moved from its spot overhead. I wonder if it is the nature of the location that desert is in, or if time is somehow frozen for that landscape? Needless to say, we didn’t step into it to find out!
We chose to leave through the same landscape, the frozen wastes, as the Void had, though we realized we needed to do some research on how to defeat the creature and decided the libraries of Greyhawk might prove to be our best chance. Fafnir offered to teleport us all, or rather, 600 pounds of us. After counting up all of our equipment and ourselves, we were about 100 pounds too heavy! I offered to get into a bag of holding for the nearly-instantaneous trip we planned, but I weigh too little to make the difference. I suggested that Aramil’s weight would be just right, but he hollered at Ghelt and Pockets when they moved to help him into a bag and started to run off across the wastes. Valon offered to travel in a bag, and his weight is similar to Aramil’s, so that’s the plan we went with. Pockets described the City of Greyhawk well enough for Fafnir to picture it. Within a few seconds, we were all standing in the town square of a thriving metropolis. Valon, Fafnir and I decided to change the party’s “loot” into currency to buy new armor to replace our “Voided” equipment, while Pockets and Aramil insisted on taking Ghelt to a tavern they were fond of. Watch went with them.
We saved half back for our drinking companions, though I bartered for new mithril chain for Ghelt and myself. Fafnir suggested that I get “Slippers of Spider Climbing” since I have a bit of a fear of climbing in caves (truth be told, while I was never as fond as some elves are of climbing trees, I was able to manage that). I got those and had planned on buying some more enchanted items, but Fafnir kept teasing me that I must “tithe” a certain amount at the local Temple of Pelor, so I decided to take the rest of my funds there. We gave Pockets, Aramil and Ghelt their portions of our “loot” to spend in the Marketplace. Fafnir was off to some Wizards’ Guild and Valon accompanied me to the Temple where I planned to stay for the evening; we plan to meet at a nearby library later to start our research.
I went to leave some gold in the poor box in the Temple (called the Solarium here!) and discovered that jade illithid idol we’d found was now stashed in my belongings. Valon wouldn’t admit to putting it there, so I’m thinking perhaps Fafnir wanted me to donate that on behalf of our group. Pelor certainly has provided us with a lot of divine help and healing, so I happily dropped the idol into the offering. I used what I had left to purchase a “Phylactery of Faithfulness,” which is supposed to give me a “warning” if we attempt to do something Pelor would consider harmful.
I was surprised to find that Valon left the Solarium at some time during the night— perhaps he wanted to go perform at one of the local taverns. I had hoped that some time in such a beautiful holy place would give him some peace of mind— I think he is being hard on himself for what happened in the Temple of the Void, though none of it was really his fault! I want to talk to the Chief Cleric here about what we’ve done and encountered so far and to see if I may look through the temple records and historical libraries. I am also told by some of the clerics here that the church of Pelor sometimes employs “Sacred Exorcists” to banish evil otherworldly beings and undead— I think I will ask more about this, as it may be something we will soon need.
Well, not much to say this time. We were able to teleport to Greyhawk in one trip because Valon agreed to go in the bag of holding. We won’t go into that ordeal. Once there Fafnir, Valon, and Drusilia went to find a library, while the rest of us went to have a few beers. After the second round Ghelt said she thinks we’re related, we just don’t want anyone knowing about it. I tried to correct her, but to no avail. An argument broke out and it caused a bar fight, that’s about when we left. We caught up with the others at the marketplace and discovered they sold what they could, and gave us our share. That’s when we went shopping. I’m now a member of the “Spellswords,” and will attend the next grand melee. I hope my friends will cheer me on. I was also able to purchase some scrolls and plan on adding them to my spellbook. I also got a new composite longbow, with some magic enhancement. I picked up some well made studded leather armor and matching gauntlets. There were other things I thought were useful, some I got others I didn’t. We’re going to be in town for a few days, so I hope we get the time to rest.
Dearest Grun,
I’ll have a chance to post these letters to you, now! We’re all safe and sound, and we’ve ended up in Greyhawk - yes, the city itself. How amazing is that?
We spent time at the Temple of the Void resting and recouperating while Drusilia watched the suns and stars of the different rooms. She did have a purpose - ensuring we’d be leaving to not only our own plane of existence, but our own time! Although everything correlated, we were a little paranoid by then. We left by the windows of the Guardian of the Present’s room.
First, of course, we had a long discussion about where to go once we got there! The final decision was to go to Greyhawk; we needed to buy new equipment, and we need to learn more about the Void (the biggest library is there). Yes, I know we should have done that first! “Pockets”, meanwhile, was trying to incite a golem so we sat upon him.
I was more than a little horrified at first when Fafnir said he could get us to Greyhawk in one teleport - if a few of us would get into a bag of holding so he could handle the weight! This sounded suicidal, but Drusilia was willing! We climbed out into the snowy wastes, still discussing who else would climb into a bag. I decided I would, since I have good stamina, but I didn’t fit. It would have to be an elf. Or a half-elf? “Pockets” gave me a wink and a look at Aramil, who had disrobed in the vain hope that putting everything, even clothes, into his handy haversack would bring us below the weight limit. We both tried to surprise him and knock him out, but instead we were treated to the sight of a naked swearing half-human running across the frozen wastes. While “Pockets” and I lay on the ground laughing, Valon offered to be elf in a sack #2. After we talked Aramil into coming back, we finally set off.
We appeared in the center of a town square, unharmed, and (to Valon’s relief) on the ground. We pulled out our companions (and guessed it was Greyhawk, the city that sees everything, because no one even looked twice), and watched Aramil and “Pockets” dancing in the street, cheering about their return to civilization. Valon seemed the wisest choice to sell our various loot, now that he’s his bardic self again, so we split up for a while. “Pockets”, Aramil and I went to a bar they swore by (with me wondering what the patrons would think of the three of us coming in. It sounded like the start of a bad joke!), and the others headed off to sell things and find the Library.
The bar wasn’t half bad. The ale was good enough that on the second round, I decided to tell them my own theory of why they won’t talk about their histories. I told them that they must be brothers - half-brothers, obviously, and the shame of how there came to be a half-human in the family makes it too hard to talk about! Whether I’m right or wrong, Grun, it was funny to see their reactions. Aramil was silent, “Pockets” spit up his ale and accused me of being insane, then tried to insult me for a while. Of course, I laughed it off, as he was obviously just trying to distract me. I told him it just proved my theory, since they weren’t explaining their “real” past to show me wrong! Then I bought another round.
It wasn’t too cruel, I hope, Grun? It was just too much fun at the time, and we were all blowing off steam after the last few pressure-filled days. First they tried to argue with me, then they got in a fight with each other! I sat down between them so we didn’t get kicked out before we were done eating, and of course that meant “Pockets” thought I made a good target. I finally choked him and sat him down, so Aramil defended him, and I ended up dragging “Pockets” out the front door while Aramil scooped up our mugs and followed. We didn’t make it before the fight spread, of course, so I ended up with an unconscious elf over one shoulder while we walked the streets looking for the Library. That, Grun, finally got some stares. Hah!
We finally got settled in town, and the others shared out our earnings. I was able to buy a very nice new chain shirt - with Drusilia’s encouragement, the armorer gave us a discount - it’s both mithril, and a little magical! Drusilia and I tithed to our gods, Fafnir’s researching, and “Pockets” and Aramil are visiting their respective guilds. This involves “Pockets” leaving the bulk of his money with me every day, but I’m not going to ask. I’ve even found some new dog toys, and I’m training Watch a little every day. She’s a good dog!
The only sad note right now is that Valon has disappeared. I know it’s a bard thing, yet I hope he’s all right. As far as we can tell he packed up and left by his own choice and we’ll have to respect that. This last adventure was pretty hard on him!
With love and hope,
Ghelt
Um, back in the real world. Busy, ahh I missed this stuff. Fun, they will drag us away again soon, have to get my fix of fun in first. Got to go, got an idea, heheheeh he will hate me soon.
After a bit of arguing over who would be in the bag, we all teleported off to merry old Greyhawk. Ghelt, Pockets, and Aramil headed off for a night of drinking and debauchery. Drusilia went to meet her maker, and I headed to the library.
Once we released Valon from the bag of holding, he buggered off, and has not been seen since.
I plan on spending some time here working on a new spell which I have been thinking about. Having created a unique spell will allow me to join Greyhawk’s wizards’ guild, so that I will have access to all of their learning.
~=Fafnir Flamebrewer=~
P.S. As I was settling down in the Great Library of Greyhawk (writing this entry), Ghelt, Aramil, and Pockets reappeared. Ghelt was the only one left standing, I guess she was too much for them.
By Sir Kaldwell the III
The entity named the Void, if indeed it is truly a living creature and not some abomination borne out of a mind overindulged with madness, is a thing not of any known origin. I first learned of its supposed existence from a traveling minstrel by the name of Jellical Mersell, who’s mental state I must say was just this side of Pandemonium, while traveling abroad as I was wont to do in those days. I met him upon the road one dark and moonless night and he seemed to be of the opinion that the very Gates of Hell were opening in the direction that he had just traversed from. Seeing as I had no true desire to see the Gates of Hell or its inhabitants we quickly left that place. It wasn’t until that dawn that he told me his tale and I began to suspect that his mind may perhaps be of the same consistency of the watered down oat meal that we had for breakfast that very morning.
The following tale, or as much as I could comprehend from the ravings of a minstrel with such impaired faculties, is as follows. It apparently all started one dreary, chilled evening just before the final advance of the cold winter. Jellical and his companions were at a local tavern, as the first flakes of snow were beginning to drift down from the heavens, trading tales of great deeds accomplished as we are all wont to do on long cold nights in the companionship of fellow travelers. It was during this time of revelry that Jellical and his companions first heard the rumors of a thing that existed only to destroy. They tracked it not by sound or by smell but by the vast trail that can only be described as a complete lack of existence that it left in its wake. Everywhere that they followed the entity they found nothing. Not the type of nothing that you find in an empty room but in the type of nothing that you would find if you couldn’t find the room. As the troupe of stout adventurers, with more than a few adventures under their collective belts, continued to follow the complete annihilation of everything, they discovered to their dismay that according to all known maps where there should have been three villages there was, indeed, none at all. It was during this time that the entity gained its infamous name “the Void,” for it seemed to swallow up all that came into contact with it. According to my delirious companion it seemed that the creature fed off of living matter and magical energy, growing ever stronger and larger the more it found to devourer. It was when the minstrel’s cadre met the creature for their final engagement that they witnessed the creature’s true destructive abilities. The Void struck out with tendrils of the darkest of night and simply winked anything it touched out of existence. Armor, shield, weapons, flesh, anything that came into contact with the beast simply vanished as if it or they had never existed. Poor Jellical was the sole survivor of that ill-fated encounter.
Reports of the Void are now beginning to filter in to the capital city. By all accounts, the abomination has grown in size and encompasses half the Barony of Halurn. It seems that the Baron’s own elite forces cannot even contain this horror as man and steed both cease to exist. The priests say that they cannot even resurrect the dead as it seems even the spirit of anyone slain by the creature is also lost. I fear that the King’s advisors may have underestimated the threat that this thing represents as they continue to ponder the problem at hand.
The Void now encompasses all the northern provinces. It is inconceivable how quickly this thing is able to spread. However, the King’s advisors say they may have a way of dealing with the Void. I find their plan preposterous, however, it seems to be the only plan that anyone has been to come up with. They intend to entrap the creature within what they refer to as a magic — antimagic containment field. I don’t even put up the pretense that I comprehend what they are blathering on about. I just pray that what they intend to do works as they say it will.
After immense research into the Void I have come to the conclusion that this entity is not a unique phenomenon as it first appeared. It is quite possible that these things may very well exist on other planes and worlds within the prime material plane. I have concluded that the creature, even though it feeds upon magical energy, may very well be susceptible to magic or items that cancel out magic.
The King’s advisors are ready to implement their plan but I fear that too much time may have elapsed since the introduction of the Void to our world. If the creature had been successfully dealt with in the early stages of its spread it is very possible that it could have been destroyed. I am casting this journal into the astral plane in the hopes that it may someday save another world from suffering the same fate as our own.
Found in the Great Library of Greyhawk.
Not much to tell you today, I spent all day in this room working on my spellbook. I’ve now added Identify and Flaming Sphere to the list. If I can continue to do this without interruption, I’ll have all the scrolls I bought transferred to my book. I wonder how the others are doing.
Godsday, Wealsun 4, 592 CY, continued
While several of my alchohol-enriched friends recuperated at the Silver Dragon Inn, Fafnir was studying in the Great Library a few blocks from Pelor’s temple. I wandered over to the Inn after morning prayer, after which we caught up with Fafnir at the library (though Aramil, characteristically, shut himself in his room for the day to “study”). Fafnir presented us with a very charred journal describing some other world’s brush with the Void. Ghelt read it to us aloud, and actually started to giggle partway through— I think the stress must be actually getting to our normally stalwart dwarf, or else she and Pockets had already had a round of intoxicating beverages during breakfast. Fafnir noticed too. When I suggested that we go to the Wizards’ Guildhall for assistance, he suggested several times that Ghelt and Pockets wait for us in a tavern.
The four of us made our way across town to the hall, Pockets occasionally disappearing into a shadow only to pop up right beside us, and we asked to see their specialist on Planar Magics. A young boy led us to the dimly lit chamber of Master Vistal, a red-robed, hunched old man with white eyes. Pockets again disappeared somewhere amongst the walls filled with skulls and alchemical items (presumably Ghelt was keeping an eye on him the few times he was visible), while Fafnir talked to Vistal about his findings and I filled in the detail on what horrors we’d encountered on our journey. Vistal answered in that dry, raspy voice I’d hoped never to hear again— Arkon had possessed the man’s body!
The lich went on to answer our questions, though I suspect he twisted his tale to best suit his own needs. He told us that the one way we can stop the Void is with the essence of Aramis— the Void now holds the Heart of Nerull and Aramis is the “anti-magic” (to use a phrase from Fafnir’s library find) to that of the Heart. He went on to tell us that he worked for the “Celestial Council” which, among other things, answers to the gods themselves, and it was his duty to keep Aramis bound to the Heart to keep him weak, lest Aramis annihilate the world in an effort to cleanse it of all evil. He told us that he does not work with Durll, who is an entity of chaos and entropy, and would much rather see the Heart destroyed than to fall to the deurgar.
While it is plausible that the celestial creature’s positive essence can cancel out the Heart’s negative one, it is utterly illogical to me why the gods would torture an angel in such a fashion. I do not doubt Pelor or my faith, but I now feel the need to commune with my god for the parts that the lich has perhaps twisted or neglected to mention, so we now how best to proceed. Aramis saved our lives when the temple where the Heart was kept was destroyed— a creature that wanted to annihilate us all would not have bothered— letting us live, the only ones who knew of his escape from the Heart, would serve him no purpose.
Before we could argue further with Arkon, he departed the body of Vistal, who crumpled where he sat. I ran over and provided him with some healing, though I think the elderly mage was only stunned. We had to explain our tale to him again, included the part involving Arkon. He was able to us that we needed an iron flask to capture an unwilling celestial to use against the Void. Of course, we don’t have the kind of money needed to purchase such an item. He asked us to go to the waiting room while he consulted another expert. We were soon called back in to talk to Allisha the Seeress, who informed us that we could obtain an iron flask beneath the ruins of Redcastle in Bone March.
We of course, forgot to ask her if the flask already contained something more horrible than the Void creature, lest we let that out upon Oerth too!
I would like to talk to more experts and do some more research before sentencing a celestial creature we’ve just rescued to total annihilation, but time is of the essence. The only thing now holding me back from communing with Pelor directly is some disturbing news I received upon returning to the Solarium to talk to a high-ranking cleric named Cornelius. He apparently had recently attempted to commune with Pelor himself, and somehow his mind touched something... else. As a result, he’s not quite himself, and no one, in a temple to the god of Healing, seems to know how to help him! I would of course ask this of Pelor when communing with him myself, though now I fear that whatever has disturbed Cornelius will affect me as well, and I definitely need my wits about me if I am to help destroy the Void. I think I may contact another celestial creature instead, in the hopes that they can tell me what parts of Archon’s tale are true, as well as what touched Cornelius when he reached out to Pelor.